The Smiley Smile Message Board

It's been 30 years since BB85 was released, and for 30 years, it has been debate whether Jeff or Brian sang the falsetto. However, I think we might finally have an answer. Here is a full recording  of the Beach Boys on 6/27/85. What is so sweet coal about his concert? Getcha Back is played for the first time live. I'm not sure if other people have heard this, but Jeff takes the falsetto live, and it definitely sounds different than the one on the record. The live recording and album recording were taken within a year, and I highly doubt that Jeff's voice would be strained on the record, but clear live. I think that this proves Brian Wilson is the one who sang the falsetto.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=WrT48E18GGw

And we're expected to listen to the entire show ? It's at 48.17...

BTW, either the date or the venue is wrong - they played Montgomery on the 21st, Milwaukee on the 27th.

Getcha Back starts at about 48:20

You're right, the falsetto part as sung by Jeff certainly does sound different than the record.

That was super cool to hear that version of Getcha Back. Even though Jeff admittedly sounds different, I don't think that proves anything either way, since songs will often sound different (even by the same singer) between studio and live versions.

That said, I absolutely think it's Brian on the album.

I really love how the ending part "I'll leave her and you leave him" sounds on this recording... super rad harmonies that aren't on the recorded version, plus some awesome drum build stuff around there too.

It would be nice to believe it's Brian on the record, but I'm undecided.

To me, this concert recording obviously has Jeff singing the falsetto, and it sounds so different from the record, which makes me believe its Brian.

I've never understood why people even wonder about this, it sounds nothing like Jeff, and exactly like Brian, to my ears.  I just don't see it...

Not only has the falsetto sounded like Brian to me for a little over 30 years now, those involved with the recording have stated that it's Brian.

100% Brian. It doesn't even remotely sound like anybody else, and least of all Foskett.

I thought I'd settled this definitively some months back, when I posted that none of the vocal track notations from the track sheets are labeled "Jeff": only "Brian", "Carl", "Al", "Mike", "Bruce and Terry"...and there ain't no way it's Terry singing falsetto! Plus, I got it straight from Bruce that Jeff is NOT on the record (and he couldn't have emphasized "NOT" any more than he did)!

That's a killer vocal by Mike, btw. The best I've heard him do this song.

I have never thought that it was anybody but Brian on the studio version.

We need a thread entitled "For the Love of God, use the search function first !!".

Probably.

I think it's Brian, but it could be Jeff. You know, Cousin Brian had a drug problem.

There’s a soundboard recording (via radio broadcast) of the 7/4/85 Philadelphia show as well with “Getcha Back”, and frankly Jeff’s falsetto on the 2012 C50 version isn’t even *vastly* different from his 80’s falsetto performances. None of these sound anything like the original studio version.

I’m not sure where this question originated; I suppose maybe people were thrown because Brian’s falsetto on the ‘84/’85 recording certainly doesn’t sound the same as his 60’s falsetto, and/or because a lot of the vocals on the ’85 album are relatively heavily processed, and/or because articles with info about Foskett’s CV with the Beach Boys usually includes mention of his being on the BB ’85 album. If he’s on the ’85 album at all, it’s pretty muted compared to his work with Brian post-1998. (Do we have some general info on which 80’s sessions Jeff definitely *did* take part in?). Indeed, some of the other stuff Jeff is supposedly on (e.g. “Kokomo”) doesn’t feature him nearly as prominently as his later work with Brian. Dunno if that was just a mixing decision, or because Jeff was just one voice in the stacks back then instead of Brian having two or three Fosketts on some later stuff.

Sounds like 80s Brian to me.

Ditto. Where's the beef?

I don't know how anyone could mistake that for Jeff-- he and Brian don't sound remotely alike.

It's kind of like debating whether a person in a given photo is Bill Cosby or Miley Cyrus. If you look, you can probably tell.

 :afro

  :p

I'm amazed that this thread even exists.  What's to debate?  Anyone who's been listening to this band for more than 30 years knows without question that the falsetto is sung by Brian.  I think I even remember in Mark Dillon's 50 SIDES book, a story from Steve Levine that he or someone actually managed to cajole Brian into doing the falsetto.

I recall reading here, or possibly somewhere else, that it is Brian and the part is repeated on a loop.

If I remember correctly, the question only arose when Jeff himself said he was on the song.  Then people started to act like there was some conspiracy to pass Jeff's vocal off as Brian's.

I could be remembering this incorrectly, though...

Are there any other post-cigarette recordings where Brian's falsetto is so clear and strong? I sure can't think of any. He sure doesn't sound like that on "She's Got Rhythm".

There's a song on the same album (Beach Boys 1985) that is rarely mentioned where Brian gets up there pretty good, which is "I'm So Lonely". I always thought of it a companion piece with "Getcha Back", both lyrically and with Brian's high voice. I wish the songs would've been sequenced "I'm So Lonely" into "Getcha Back" on the album, although "Getcha Back" is admittedly a great opener. 

Another song comes to mind with Brian singing very high - and clearly - which is his version of Carl's "Heaven". In my opinion, it's the best lead vocal of Brian's solo career.

It's Brian OBVIOUSLY (yet not as obvious is the pitch correction used).

Terry Melcher had to "force" ("persuade" is probably a better word) Brian into singing it, as he initially didn't want to.

That's the part that always gets me... the vocal sounds strained and has that Brian 'whine' in it, that he does RIGHT NOW.  He could probably sing that song just like that at Dinner tonight... he sings like that all over the album he just released a couple months ago... and all the ones in between. 

Didn't Steve Levine insist Brian take vocal classes to get his voice back in shape? It was Levine talking on a radio doc where I heard that, possibly the one presented by Harry Shearer.

There is no debate here.  It's Brian all the way..  He sounds nothing like Jeff.

Brian's falsetto never went away.  Period.

Yes, and also in an interview reprinted in STOMP! about a year after the album's release. The song in question that time, though, was "Maybe I Don't Know". Looks like the vocals on that are all Carl, Brian and Bruce. One track I know of on which Jeff sings is "She Believes In Love Again".

Nice comment Matt about the pitch correction. You know that for sure right ,and so what if he did. That's one of the things I hate about this board; the drive- by snide comments made by all the so-called experts.

BTW, for me it's clearly Brian on top of the stack in It's Gettin' Late doing some great-sounding falsetto work There's some great group vocals there (even if the intro and verse seem to lead to nowhere-- great chorus though).

Mostly on that song I hear a lot of Carl. Carl singing backup to Carl's lead.

Pitch Correction wasn't invented and released until (circa) 1997.

I think the proper debate here should be what Steve Levine was smokin' when he let Mike Love get away with that lead vocal.... I'm not the biggest ML fan by any stretch, but man, couldn't he have sung that lead better than that!!  ???

Yes, I thought '84-'85 was a bit early for that abomination. To my ears, Brian's falsetto part (and all of Brian's leads on the album) sound uber-squashed with mucho compression, which can have the added "benefit" of making an off-pitch vocal sound more "on".

I hear Jeff in the intro. I think all the guys are singing in the almost a capella break toward the middle or end of the song - Mike, at least, is there with his low bass voice.

I always liked Mike's lead vocal on "Getcha Back". It's a catchy song, but I thought one of the reasons for it's success was hearing Mike's familiar voice on the radio (and record, along with Brian's falsetto). Conversely, and I know I'm in the minority on this board, but I thought the weak link on the record was Brian's shouting, not on the falsetto, but on the "whoas" and on the tag. It was nice to get Brian on the radio and a semi-hit, but Carl would've been a better choice, IMO.

I think you are right about Mike's sound being crucial to its hit status. But the live vocal linkes above is killer, while the studio vocal is a smaller and somewhat ball-less.

The Auto-Tune pitch correction software wasn't released until around '97 however there was such a thing as pitch correction pre Auto-Tune.  E.g running the problem vocal through a sampler and using the pitch wheel to nudge any off notes into line.

Whether such practices occurred during the BB1985 album sessions, I don't know.

C-man I'm no expert but I'm struggling to see how any amount of compression could help an off pitch vocal sound more "on"  ???

OCA was heavily pitch corrected with pre-Auto Tune tech, as was BW88.

The is an account on the WIBN book about Levine's recording method, and it says it involved pitch-correcting of some sort. Not that that book is very reliable.

Regarding compression to "pull" something into pitch: I remember that method was suggested in one of the professional recording mags back in the '90s (Mix or Recording, most likely). It doesn't technically pull something into pitch, but rather smooths out the jarring impact of an off-key note on the ear.

I believe the Fairlight was used in the latter case (possibly the former case, and possibly with BBs '85 - although, if it or something else was indeed used to tweak off-pitch vocals on BBs '85, why not on "I'm So Lonely", which has Brian frequently flatting?).

<<I think the proper debate here should be what Steve Levine was smokin' when he let Mike Love get away with that lead vocal.... I'm not the biggest ML fan by any stretch, but man, couldn't he have sung that lead better than that!!  Huh>>

I think Getcha Back is one of Mike's best leads.  He tries a different type of phrasing, hanging back on the beat, always hanging back.  It's jazz phrasing; Matt Monro used to do it a lot.

Mike's lead I haven't really liked on that song, interestingly though it's not a failure of his voice or anything, he's purposefully singing it like that.   

I always took it, that he was trying to do a kind of retro sound to it, he was trying to sing it like it was a doo wop song or something.  So the nasal sound in it is just him kind of singing it like a smart-ass on purpose.

Kind of curious choice to do it that way, but it is what it is.  I'd probably prefer it straight but it's so... off... from what he normally does it's kind of cool in that regard I guess.  Very strange. 

Great observation. You sold me into the vocal.

Interestingly this is one of the few leads Mike has ever given up in concert over the years which leads me to believe he was never satisfied with his lead and in fact talked about wanting someone else to do the lead in an interview I believe.

The vocals sound super-processed on that album ... maybe something like the Aphex Aural Exciter ?

More likely the BBE Sonic Maximizer, which achieves the same result in a different fashion (I have two of each in my studio). The Aural Exciter was used to mix the L.A. Light Album, and is name-checked on the inner sleeve. BBE is name-checked on the inner sleeve of the '85 album. That plus tons of compression on the vocals.

What does audio compression do to vocals in terms of desired effects?

I don't know why people believe the guy singing the rough vocal at the end of Getcha Back is the same guy singing a relatively smooth falsetto from the beginning and throughout the song?  The producer of the album stated that Brian's vocal were poors and he needed a singing coach.

Didn't a very reliable source post here not too long ago that not only was it Brian singing the falsetto, but it was also ONE falsetto line recorded (basically, an attempt considered "good") and looped and dropped in where necessary?

1). Maybe because it is Brian singing

2).  The falsettos is not smooth.  Brian gets there and it sounds great but not smooth.  The 60s falsetto was smooth.

Only my opinion off course, but I wonder why anyone thnks it's not Brian when it sounds like him and others have confirmed it is him.  Care to elaborate?

Just because Brian may have had a "rough" regular singing voice during this time period didn't mean his higher register/ falsetto wasn't smooth.


Just listen to the 76-78 time period.. Scratchy lead vocals but still provided crystal clear falsettos when called upon.

Brian sang the falsetto on Getcha Back.  Can we move on now?

The BBE Aural Exciter doesn't really do that. It adds a lot of EQ and high-end and shimmer but most of the 85 vocals sound tripled and chorused with some digital reverb.

Sonic Maximizer! Aural Exciter! EQ and high-end and shimmer!

I know nothing about recording but I'm loving this thread. :lol

Consider this for one possibility that was used to give that vocal sound on the '85 album.

The Eventide Harmonizer. Either the original 910 or one of the later versions, whatever the case.

These were almost ubiquitous in studios and mixing "hit" records in the early 80's, everything from Prince to Bowie to Van Halen to a majority of hit songs and albums of the 80's were probably processed through a version of an Eventide Harmonizer. It would and could give the exact chorus/delay/doubled effect that was mentioned above depending on how it was set up.

A very common thing they'd do is set up a signal chain with two Eventide units processing the "dry" track, like a vocal. What they could and did do is create artificial doubling and tripling which would create that effect of chorusing and also some digital delay added as was pretty standard in the 80's as well. One process would be send the dry signal, have one Eventide detune it slightly down, have the other detune it slightly up, then mix them together with whatever other effects were desired. It was still being done on DAW's on any number of hip-hop and R&B recordings into the 2000's and beyond. It gives a certain sound to vocals, a specific sound.

So if the band were looking for a radio hit in 1984-85, if they hired a hot producer who was cutting hit records at the time, chances are pretty high they might also have some of those studio sounds that were common to hit records and vocals on those records at the time. And one pretty common effects unit heard on a lot of hits was the Eventide. It would produce that same chorus/doubling/digital delay sound that was mentioned, depending on how it was used.

BTW...interesting fact. The precursor to the digital Eventide Harmonizer was the analog ELTRO that was used on "She's Goin Bald" back in '67. Time-stretch, pitch-shift capabilities that allowed you to change pitch without changing speed or tempo as was the case with analog tape previously. The Eventide like the ELTRO but in a *much* smaller housing got used on everything from advertising jingles to reruns of old TV shows to allow for more commercials to be put into the length of the show itself. You could speed up the film/video, lessen the run time, and the soundtrack wouldn't sound as "Chipmunks" vari-speeded as it did previously.


I think.  :)

From a old thread.


Quote and source. Good enough for me.

Well, neither does the Aphex Aural Exciter. I have two of each in my studio - both add shimmer and bottom without resorting to boosting frequencies, and they do it in different ways.

Smooths out the peaks and valleys, and if you squash it hard enough, you get the kind of sound you hear on the vocals from the '85 album.

The reason Brian sounds rough at the end of the song but smooth in the falsetto on the same song is because Brian Wilson

On Brian's first solo album, Paley admits they used a Fairlight CMI to fix some bum notes in "One For The Boys". Given that there are four such sessions logged March 15th/16th/17th/18th 1988, I'd say more than a few...